NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Fantasy Extravaganza 2018!

Episode Date: August 16, 2018

A room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Marc Sessler & Chris Wesseling - take a quick glimpse at the latest news (5:00), before welcoming in Marcas Grant for their 4th Annual Fantasy Extravaganza (23:00). The heroes discuss #BSOHL (Best Shape Of His Life) (28:30), their choices for sleepers (38:00) and “not on my team.” They make a few stops at Sizzler’s Fantasy Corner and close with their best draft day advice (52:00).Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast. Kai's Kai. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast presented by New Era. My name is Dan Hensis, and I'm joined in a room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal. What is up, boys? Hey, Dan.

Woo. You guys, we're talking a little. SNL before the show. And I know that Dan's taking over here. Dan and Wes like to kind of like be the S&L guys. Wait, did you read like the 80 article? Yeah, sorry, Dan and Greg. And it's like, you know, listen, Wes and I,

we jumped out when Nora Dun jumped out. I feel like that's the last time that, you know, that show held any relevance. We're just having a shared interest, killing some time. I left with Jan Hooks. Getting rid of some of that nervous. Yeah. Are you dragons?

We are experienced. We are what you would. In an HR world, you would call We Are Experienced. No, it's a good reminder, Mark, because if there's any new listeners, and I hope there are some that are joining us for the 2018 season. Welcome. We want to tell you that Mark and Wes are way older than Dan and Matt. Well, that is utter nonsense. It's different generation.

That is utter nonsense. A different, like, decade. I mean, literally lucky to be alive. Who's that? We have a guest that wants to stop in. Oh, okay. We're special delivery. Oh, look at us.

Deaker. It's Deeker. Hi, everybody. Hey, Deke. Deeker from the other side of the office. What's going on here? This better be good. This is like a peewee playhouse scenario.

Put on here. So Deeker has showed up in the office and in the podcast studio with a bag, almost like a gift bag. Just like a little gift bag. You know, I have heard the recent podcast where you have brought up the infamous Laura Dern. The Dernessus. Everybody loves. And Deaker is good friends with several celebrities, including Laura Dern. That's not entirely true.

That is true. I'm, you know, yes, I definitely know her. So word has gotten back to Ms. Laura Dern that you guys have mentioned to her a few times about the Durnasance. Oh, yeah, we're all in. And her producing partner, who's one of my best friends,

her name is Jamie Lemons. She wanted to give you guys a gift. Wow. Jamie, that was very nice. Wow. Fans of Laura. Oh, look at this. Little feel the Dern.

Oh, yeah. We are all in on. and Laura Dern more than ever now. I mean, if you guys don't deserve those t-shirts, I don't know who. Wow, Dekker. Well, thank you.

It's so good to be plugged in with Dekker. She's the person who knows how to get things. What am I going to do with this? It's like there's no one in my family that's going to fit into this. Bedtime. Well, we'll take that back then. We'll give it to another Dern fan.

I did mention. Listen, I did mention sizing. I said there was one gentleman that's slight. And he's strong by silent. He's strong and silent and slight. Thank you, Miss Lemon. I mean, you did not allow me, you know, a couple weeks ago to text Laura Dern on your phone. That is accurate.

Now, I feel, you know, not this moment. But later on today or tomorrow, that would be appropriate for me to connect with her to say thank you for the group. Or maybe a conference call. That is tremendous. All right. Enjoy. Thank you, Dekker. Thank you, Dicker's like red from Shawshank.

If you need to get something, you go to Dekker. So many famous friends, too. I mean, we've barely revealed. known to get things from time to time. All right. Anyway, that's awesome. All right. So now we have new t-shirts.

I've got t-shirts, man. Big show today. Big show. And we're already off to a flying start. Big show today because, as you probably know, this is the fourth annual fantasy extravaganza. Oh, yeah. And the reason why, like, why do you guys do a fantasy show?

tell you why we do a fantasy show every August. It's because the two men that put on the hard hats and built roto world from nothing. Greg Rosenthal and Chris Wessling happened to be on this podcast. So we need to take advantage of their knowledge.

Even if they're getting further away from their fantasy days, it's still in there. It's still in there. And also, Mark's here. Also, with very little to say, maybe in fact in this episode less to say than ever before mark mark was excited not to have to prepare just because he's expected to know so little for this show it's it's a nice side benefit to this this episode um so yeah very exciting we're going to go through it and also a very special guest we got a big fish uh from our fantasy team marcus grant will be joining us in a little bit to uh share his thoughts that's a man who is a current professional in the fantasy realm so we have like kind of like a the old school the new school oh and the

A little tension. Yeah, Zusser's driving, driving the thing, the train, and then, you know, marks her. You're the conductor. This won't get tiresome. All right, so we got so much to get to. Let's do it. But before we get to the fantasy extravaganza, let's take a quick spin through the news. You know, I'm blessed with all these shoes, so I'm giving some shoes away.

Come on, Corey. Get some shoes. It works. Stay off the ground. Yoinks. Corey Coleman from the most recent. installment of hard knocks. That episode opens with Corey Coleman showing his extravagant shoe collection and then

being demoted to second team confronting his own head coach and then promptly being traded for pennies on the dollar to the bills. Two episodes in, this is a fine season of hard knocks. I think through two episodes, it's my favorite season ever. It's got a chance. The first two episodes back to back, because there's more real life situations that is to paraphrase one of my favorite. I mean, there's real stuff. One of your favorite rappers?

You don't have to make it up. Is this an episode of Greg likes rap? Yes. Who's the rapper? It does feel like the Rams one and to some degree the Bucks one too. It was starting to lose me a little bit because the Rams one especially if they had to manufacture Los Angeles-based images and

storylines that felt very obvious. You could feel them coming from a thousand yards away. The last night's episode was all pure football. They didn't have to cook up anything. Great characters. I've talked to the people behind the scenes at the show. If you want to read the recap,

I have it up on NFL.com slash Hansus. They are essentially, you know, it comes down to luck a lot of it. They pick the team, but then they need things to break their way for a truly good season. And I think the Browns, and one of the reasons we've talked about,

the Browns coming up, oh and 16 are somehow a national team is because, well, it's partly because of Owen 16 and how you react to that, but also there's no shortage of juicy subplots around. Cajus! Cajus! Love that guy.

So, yeah, let's get to the news. We'll start with, speaking of drama, Jalen Ramsey, still suspended, by the way. Ice Cube aired his issues, and we'll get to Cube in a second, but he aired his issues with the Jacksonville decision to suspend the cornerback.

He is back on Monday, but while he's away, there's a GQ story that came out in which Ramsey did not hold back in taking some shots at some prominent players across the league. Josh Allen, Bill's rookie, called

Trash. Falcons quarterback, Matt Ryan, is overrated. Also had some positive things to say, including about his own quarterback Blake Bordles, Greg. But Jalen Ramsey don't care. He's just

giving reporters across the country a layup for their job today. It's like every single quarterback, including Eli Manning, that he spoke about. The local reporters in that town are now asking, you know, them about what Jaylon Ramsey said, set some headlines. I like it. That, you know, Jalen Ramsey's just talking like every fan talks watching football. And so he's, that's how he's speaking like a lot of reporters are speaking in the press room under their breath while watching. So why not be honest? One thing I've learned over the years is that players and former players can give you a lot of insight into certain parts of the game, but that does not extend to them having some elevated notion of who's good and who's not good in the NFL.

Like Jalen Ramsey is just like talking to the guy at the bar, like his opinions on these quarterbacks. Some are dead on and some of them are like, all right, I don't believe any of that. Well, like some like Matt Ryan, he hasn't played against and he's just saying, well, that guy was terrible last year. And he wasn't terrible. But then others, like Ben Rathesberger, who he has played and he thought was a little overrated, you know. Because he limited to the two games. His analysis extended to two games against the Jaguars. What's to be gained by shredding all these NFL guys?

People talking about him. I think Elyn Ramsey likes people talking about him. Well, I think just being an honest person, being yourself all the time, you know, not putting on a phony exterior, which is what we kill players for when you're talking to the media. Just talking to them like any, like I think if you asked him, Kirk Cousins is. opinion, which was very positive. If anyone asked it, he's going to give him the same answer. Yeah, but I don't know how you come to the conclusion that Matt Ryan is not a successful court.

You could praise him and say, oh. It's just a bad opinion, just like everyone has. You're praising him for being super honest, but then he's being, you know, frankly, disrespectful to these guys that he doesn't even know. Like, call it Joe Flacco, he sucks. Like, all right, that's cool that you're speaking your mind, but you're coming from an uneducated place. We're disrespectful to players all the time.

Yeah, but I, when you write your quarterback index, you don't just like, hey, you know I'm not going to watch any games this season and just go slash people left and right. There's research behind it. This guy you'd think would have the best perspective of anyone going up against these players and comes away with opinions that don't hold a lot of salt when you tell me, Matt Ryan's on a good quarterback. Haven't heard good things. He also asked who the quarterback was for the dolphins.

Right. Flacco, you know, I think if he's talking about the last couple of years since Ramsey's been in the league, that's an accurate assessment. And he has played against Joe Flacka. Matt Stafford, by the way. He's straight. Which I think he is. As far as married, he's got kids.

He said, well, along those lines, the interesting part here is some of the reaction to it all. And Kelly Stafford, Matthew's wife, has responded in an Instagram story and says, can someone please tell me why GQ is interviewing Jalen Ramsey? I understand ESPN, but not GQ. There's nothing GQ about him. Seems like a complete waste of time and space. Get the butts and burner blow torch out. I also have an announcement to make involving this story.

Okay, let's hear it. The battle for the integrity of the word literally is over. I've been trying to fight it. It's over. The headline here, Jalen Ramsey has something to say about literally everyone. Well, not literally. I mean, it's just not true, but that battle's over. Right.

There are millions and millions of people he did not weigh in on. Right. Wes, he didn't say anything about me. An incredibly intelligent, well-read man. He's pointing out, don't use words like that. Don't abuse them because then you strip them of their allure in meaning. Well, this is how language works. Like, over a period of a couple hundred years, it changes.

And this one just changed in a period of about six years. That all done. True. I think Greg really contributed to this, too. What do you mean? He used to use literally wrong all the time. And I use it myself literally too often. We're down in the lab.

I never would do it in print. That would hurt me. But I don't really care. It's all right. It's over. Hey, look. It does annoy me. I forgive me.

Moving on. Seahawks first round pick, Rashad Penny underwent surgery Wednesday morning to repair a broken bone. And his finger, this came from rap sheet. The surgery is expected to sideline the rookie running back three to four weeks. There's a chance he won't return before week one of the season. Penny's been battling Chris Carson for the Seahawks starting running back job. This, I mean, honestly,

Greg, or Mark, this is just like with the Seahawks, and this seems like something's not going to derail this season, but they're just trying to get this running back room off the ground. It's been going on for years, and it just always seems to be something that comes up, and here's the latest obstacle. Thought about the Seahawks watching the first couple minutes of that Raiders game when Marcia Lynch ripped off a massive run that was called back.

He looks tremor and quicker. Look great. I mean, you're right. The Seahawks, this is something along with their offensive line and their ground game, and the ground game was such a defining. aspect of this team when they used to pound people on offense. They were an absolute thrill to watch.

You still have a bunch of guys there, but you don't have a clear lead guy. I think they're one of the most mysterious teams heading into the season because of the incredibly vast changes they've made in the course of five or six months. Chris Carson's got juice. I think he is the clear league guy. He was the clear week one starter before this injury, and now CJ Procise has a hip injury, so you're right. It just seems like a haunted position.

I mean, this is a first round pick, a first round running back. You feel like they've got to feel like he's got to be a major contributor. In other broken finger news, Devante Parker, the struggling Dolphins wide receiver also suffered a broken finger, also questionable for week one. He has not been having a great camp from what we're hearing. So I imagine this is not going to help his case, even with the dolphins, pretty unsettled at that position. I think the injury report is going to say questionable in then parentheses, finger comma, soul. Did lose his soul earlier in the week. So that's troubling, even more than the finger.

Uh, in other news, surprising news around the Steelers, uh, Ben Rathesberger took a hit in practice and was evaluated by team doctors as part of the concussion protocol. Rathlisberger went down during a seven shot segment of practice, according to multiple reporters on the scene. Marcus Gilbert told reporters after the practice that big Ben went down after he rolled out and ran into him as Gilbert was blocking linebacker Kian Adams. Uh, when I saw the tweet, the first thing I thought is somebody's getting fired. Probably not, but you never, ever, ever concuss the star quarterback in practice. It's almost unheard of. Yeah, it's interesting because this was an issue in Brown's camp last week, not the concussion part, but Todd Haley, who used to be the Steelers coordinator,

was basically telling Greg Williams stop hitting our quarterback. And Greg Williams, who, you know, has a history of hitting quarterbacks, said, hey, block them. Well, according to Jalen Ramsey, Big Ben's decent at best, so maybe they want to look at Mason. Oh, he does, is slinging around. Mason Rudolph looked pretty good in the pre-test. That honest Jalen Ramsey hot take there. Ben, how you feeling?

Okay, sounds okay. He's fine. All right, let's move on. The New York Jets have Terrell Pryor in camp, prior trying to get off the mat after a rough season in Washington. He revealed on Monday to reporters that he underwent a pair of off-season surgeries. One was to the foot. One was the ankle.

I tore three ligaments in my ankle, not my foot, and then I broke my ankle in May. This did not sit well with Todd Bowles, who does not know why his new wide receiver chose to give details on the specifics of his injury. Here's what Bowles had to say. Terrell doesn't need to be descriptive, and I feel he should keep his mouth shut

and leave the injuries to me. Bowles is a man of, I want to say few words, but he very rarely gives you a sound bite, so you could probably read into that as the Jets and the head coach. We're not happy that the new guy is speaking out of turn. It's Terrell's body. Yeah, how dare he be honest about, a broken ankle.

You know how this league is. I know, but broken ankle, it does seem like a next level of like, what is the big deal if people know that that was what he's coming back from? He was just being honest. It did, I think, have implications, though, in my mind, which is, you know, I started wondering, is Threll Pryor going to make this team?

Because I don't think he was 100% locked to make it going into the off season. He's been hurt, and it sounds like maybe they're a little annoyed with him, maybe on maybe more than just this. I don't know. Why else would you call out? a player and embarrass him publicly and maybe he doesn't make the team this immediately brought me back to a couple years ago when dan was trying to figure out what is it about terrell prior that everyone seems to hate him his teammates his opponents his coaches what is it yeah in this practice

this joint practice the jets had with the redskins this week um all the redskins defenders seemed to have a ball messing with prior on the field dj swearinger actually uh was seen in a video approaching prior and then taking like a fake swing at him and that led prior to flinch and kind of pull back which led to a celebration by the Redskins and prior getting flamed in the blogosphere and on Twitter but it's like one hot take on that like everybody calmed down all these like keyboard warriors

are like how he flinched oh he's no longer a man put a dress on that guy it's like bro let's see you react that's a natural human reflex when someone is about to wind up and hit you. Pryor's got a lot of problems right now, but his reaction to some teammate trying to punk him. Totally understandable defense mechanism. You texted that to us, and I totally agree that it's one of those things that's highly,

highly toxicly annoying about Twitter is suddenly everyone is this alpha male rolling around on the internet telling you how to respond to a professional football player taking a swing at you. One thing we do not need in life is a deep dive analysis of a flinch. Thank you. That's what we get in the world now. And here is Trail Pryor's one and only comment to the D.C. media after the joint practices, I'm ready to get the F out of here.

It doesn't seem like a fun situation. Didn't have a good year in Washington. No, it was a rough year. But that's where those comments came from because they were in Washington, and he was being asked about this by Redskins reporters that wanted to know what his deal was. And Sweringer is very much an alpha guy. It sounds like. And an agitator.

In any locker room he's in. and clearly he was enjoying the moment. I think I might have an idea what's up with Terrell Pryor why no one seems to like him. Can you share it on this program? Yes. Okay. Terrell's Terrell.

Oh, he's like Kai. Guy's Kai. It's almost like an undefinable thing that just people are just like repel people. Back in the day when he was a Raider's quarterback, he was, I just remember Metrics Gold. It was like any time you wrote about Terrell Pryor. he was one of the most popular players.

It was just like Albert Breer refreshing the story over and over again. A little Burke Breer bit. Ohio State. That's what's happening in the news. Okay, before we begin our fantasy extravaganza, it is time for the preseason spotlight presented by New Era. And I thought, spotlight, that's good. Ice Cube was in the studio on Monday after the interview,

which went quite well. And it was great talking to Cube. We got a photo. So I thought this would be a good. time. If you're watching on video, you can watch along. Obviously, if you're just listening to the audio, hit pause, pull up the photo, which you could find on Instagram or Twitter. And now I'm going to go through the photo and get my laser pointer out. Oh, geez. Oh, no. Here it is. Okay. Let's go one by one. Okay, we'll start with Greg. This is the Greg face. This is a very

popular Greg face. It's kind of a half grin, half smile. It's a smug. Yeah. It's a little bit smug, but it's kind of like your thing. And that's, I don't think it's a bad look. It's just, I don't like a natural smiling. That's just my normal look, unfortunately. Do you ever show teeth? I don't think you really do that. Not plenty, but that's more typical, yeah.

All right, now let's move on to the old zooser. Like any photo where I feel like I don't look like I'm 400 pounds, I'm in on, this one, I'm looking a little husky, but not too bad. I think it's a nice photo of you. Now, notice how, though, the arm positioning, though, how both me and Wes have our arms around each other, but we're not touching ice cube. Move the sticks actually reached out to me on this. It's a little, it commented that it was a little uncomfortable looking.

Yes. He actually called me. I was putting my kids to bed. Move the sticks thought this was so hilarious that you guys were so afraid to touch Ice Cube that you have your hands around each other behind him. It is pretty funny. I don't know. I'll say one thing, Dan, does not appear afraid to touch Greg.

You have that right hand of yours draped generously over Greg. Should do it because he knows it makes me uncomfortable. He's right. Now let's move on to Wes. Nice smile. People have commented West really filling out physically looking like the old West, maybe even a better version of the old West. A lot of compliments for West on online.

The shirt, it's one of those West shirts where you want to revisit it 10 years or now. You want to see if it's still going to be a hot shirt 10 years or a regrettable one. It's cacti in there. I'll say something else. Wes, who was very against the lanyard concept here at work, is really going company man with the company ID drifting out of his pocket there. No one else with that look. That's where it is 24-7 when I'm at work.

That's a little bit of a humble brag when you go to the assa-e shop. Is that how you pronounce it? Asa-e-y-y. Look, the only reason it's there is so I don't forget it and then have to ask our extremely officious security card. Yes, to let me through. And then finally, we have Mark, an interesting pose here for Mark, who has his left hand pressed up against his stomach.

I was just curious your thoughts on this, Mark, how this came to be, this position. I mean, my only takeaway is that I look intensely attractive in this photo. Sort of a Napoleon look with the hand there. I don't know. I got a lot of questions, and I would have responded to even one of them if I had any idea what I was doing with my hand there.

I don't know what happened. The photo just took place at that moment. I can't fill you in. There you go. But overall, a nice photo with the most famous person we've ever had in the studio. And that is your preseason spotlight, presented by New Era.

All right. Do you think he even remembers doing that interview at this point? I mean, it is so far from his... No, I saw that he was a part of at least 15 other interviews that day across the ESPN Spectrum, Fox, whatever. So, you know, we're some guys. I think ours was fun. I think ours was fun.

It was pretty fun. All right. One more thing before we get to the extravaganza. You may or may not have heard, but Lowe's new home is the new home probably typo much of craftsmen which means that at lows you'll find an ever-growing selection of mechanics tools tool storage and more in store and online ready to help tackle projects throughout your home if one of those projects happens to be in a really tight space to get to west you're you know still getting settled in your new home so you might connect with some of this definitely then you definitely need to check out the 120 tooth ratchet It has a three degree arc swing, you guys. Don't know what that does? Nobody does.

It sounds very, it sounds useful. We didn't either, but we do now a three degree arc swing means you can loosen or tighten bolts with less movement in those hard-to-reach spots. This might be to get the toolbox going, Greg. This would be a good initial entry into your toolbox. Not happening. You're going to want those 120 teeth on your ratchet.

Why I rent. Shop at the new home of Craftsman today. Lowe's.com slash around. That's Lowe's.com slash around. Oh, man, the offseason. It's been so long. But it's coming to an end, and Fanduel has spent it getting into the best shape of their lives.

Their bods are hot. That means that Fandul is ready for more and more ways to play, more ways to challenge your friends, and most importantly, more ways to win. If you're not a fantasy expert like me, then Fandul is clearly the best place to play. They have all kinds of contests just for casual fans. My favorite, beat the score.

It's great, because you pay out everyone who hits a certain score, so all you have to do is finish in the money to earn an equal share of the cash. Fanduil also has a new option for playing with your friends because the only thing better than winning cash is winning your friend's cash because you cannot trust your friends in any way to get even with them

and take them down a peg is always positive. Best of all, Fandul is doing their part to make the preseason bearable with preseason fantasy contests running all the way up to week one of the season. Right now you can get a $20, bonus when you make your first deposit on Fandual, just sign up at fanduel.com slash around the NFL, that's fanduel.com slash

around the NFL, agent state restrictions apply. Okay, without further ado, yes, we brought it back for a fourth year. It is the fourth annual fantasy extravaganza. Mark, this is what you wait all year for. This is why you lift all them weights. That's only slight hyperbole. Heading into the studio right now, listen, we're running out of fantasy analysts.

Let's keep it real. Once upon a time, Marcus Grant was part of what was known as the fantasy stronghold, strong no more. Let's face it, Matt Harmon left the company. Franchise, left the company. Now it's just the fantasy hold. Gelhard left the company, left the industry. James Coe, out of the company. It's all over, but the one man that's still here, Marcus Grant.

And listen, while we're bummed that that's how that all played out, it really is a bummer because you guys were a great team and did great work together. It's good that you're still standing. And welcome to the around NFL podcast. You referred to me before as you said you landed a big fish. I'm kind of the only fish, really. I mean, I guess technically it makes me the big fish. There weren't a lot of options.

Right. You're the proverbial big fish in a small pond. I'm the only fish in the pond. But I appreciate it. That's cool. You can kind of do what you want now. though, right? It is.

It's kind of nice. It's like my own little fiefdom that I can stomp around in, you know? I mean, just to be clear, I mean, it looks like everyone left of their own free will or various, you know, corporate reasons. This isn't, this wasn't the result

of some sort of deep-seated, Machiavelli and sort of, you know, house of cards moved by you where suddenly you're the only fantasy person left. I mean, maybe I won the Game of Thrones and nobody will ever know. Ooh. That is brilliant.

I never thought of it, but that is one way to look at it. Marcus actually was on our fantasy extravaganza last year as well. So two-time contributor, and that's exciting. It's likely to be back next year. There's no other option. Interesting that he said he'd only go on this time if Evan Silva was not back.

So we're starting to see some of that Game of Thrones. Most because Evan Silva, as great as he is, is a physically imposing man. Yeah. It's large, dude. A bit intimidating, even on a phone call. when he's 3,000 miles away. All right.

So, yes, and we are doing a home and home. I will be joining Marcus on the Fantasy Live podcast on Thursday. Looking forward to that. And I thought a good way to get into it. We're going to go through several different discussions here because we know, and I checked with Marcus on this just to make sure, although I kind of know this from decades of losing in fantasy leagues, that most leagues draft or should draft right after the week three preseason games,

which puts you right at the, last week of August. So what we thought is bring it up a little bit earlier than we did last year to get people prepped to know when they should be. And if you already drafted, you're a clown. Good luck. I mean, good luck, Peter Pan. People do it.

And then, you know, inevitably somebody drafts like a Darius guy's. Right. And then they're struggling. Come on, bro. So with Marcus here, with the Fantasy Live podcast, still fighting the good fight despite all the defections, we thought a good way to start this is to bring one of the popular fantasy life segments onto the around the end of our podcast, which, of course, is is what, Marcus?

B-S-O-H-L. It's a thing, we like doing, especially in the off-season, because you get these guys who show up in camp, and they always say they're in the best shape of their lives, right? And this was originally a thing that was more in the baseball domain. You hear a lot of it in spring training. But football guys have lately started, you know,

because the NFL can't do, let anybody have its own thing. You know, we have to have something as well, too. So I've started kind of tracking the guys who come in and say that they are in the best shape of their lives and trying to figure out how much this actually means for them going forward into the season for their fantasy prospect. It's a trope. It's a famous trope that we get every spring, but how does it tie into fantasy?

So why don't we start, Marcus, while you throwing out some of these guys that say their bodies have never been more strong and their hot bods will lead to hot fantasy deliveries on Sundays. The first one is David Johnson, who obviously missed the bulk of last season with a wrist injury. And he said, all I did was run and all I did was workout, right? So David Johnson, who two years ago had a phenomenal season, missed nearly all of last year. Now he says he's in even better shape,

which to me signals bad news for everybody else in the NFC West. Because he was someone, I never looked at him and thought, that guy's, you know, not in good shape. Kind of an amazing body before. So taking it to another level would be special. I think that also last year he went number one in a lot of leagues. In a lot of leagues, yes. And I feel like because when you miss a year,

even if it was a wrist injury, So it wasn't a lower body injury, which is very important. Some people are going to kind of maybe sleep on him. Is he drifting in most drafts a little deeper into the first round this year? You know, early on in the spring, he kind of was. He was sort of in the back half of the first round. People were drafting in the spring. People are draft.

Look, there were drafts that opened right after the Super Bowl. Are you kidding? The best ball drafts. I don't like the best balls. Yeah. So some of those opened right after the Super Bowl. People have been drafting since February. I mean, is that just so that like you don't feel nervous when you're doing the real draft?

Why are we doing this in the spring? Because some people just are addicted and can't get it up. It's why Marcus makes $7 million a year. Oh, okay. Wait, I do. Let's have that talk after. So, yeah, he, you know, early in the spring was sort of in the back half of the first round. Now he's moved up, and he's probably a top three or four pick in a lot of them.

That feels like a safe pick and a great pick. Who else is in the best shape of their life? Leonard Fournette, who last year played around, you know, 234, 235 pounds. Now he says he's down to about 223, which is where he played his last year at LSU. So hopefully he thinks this will help him stay healthier, avoid some of those injuries he had last year. What's he?

22 years old, this one's believable. He's probably never been in better shape. Right. And he was someone where his conditioning seemed like it was a problem. Like as games went on, as the season went along, it's funny because Jalen Ramsey kind of talked up playoff Blake Bordles. And it did get me thinking, like, I was happy whenever they handed the ball off to Leonard Fournett

and the AFC championship game. He made a good point that they were two predictors. running with Leonard Fournett on first and second down in that game. It was partly because Leonard Fournett wasn't effective. It would be better. He's playing on a high ankle, wasn't it? Yeah, he's a little bit on my radar of being a little overrated. How about you, why do you come into the best shape of your life in your second year?

As a rookie entering the league, wouldn't you be on fire about your body? Maybe he was. In this year, he's gone even a step further best shape. I also feel like sometimes you don't know what you don't know until you get to like week 12 or 13 and you start to hit that wall. And it's their career, it's their life goal to get drafted. and the pre-draft process is like its own season, and I think there's a natural kind of let-up or not realizing what it takes after that.

There's, like Demerius Thomas, a story came out last week where he finally has decided to maximize his diet to improve his body. I think you absolutely, you're not getting a full off-season when you're drafted in April 2. I mean, it probably does make sense in year 2. You get your act together a little bit. Who else?

See, Mike Williams of the Chargers. Now, he said last year, obviously, he was injured. He said, my back limited me from doing a lot of things. things. Now my back is right. I'm healthy and I'm feeling great. It feels like the destiny of every Mike Williams to be a little overweighted sometime. That's a big man. When I went to Chargers practice, just like he is basically a tight end and it does make you think he can take a lot of what Hunter Henry was going to do in that offense. Yeah, I think that's the anticipation now that a lot more three wide receiver sets. And I think Mike Williams is poised for a nice year. I think he can

be a sleeper in a lot of mid-the-late round drafts, I think. So I'll see there as a little tip there from Marcus Grant. And finally, best shape of his life. Chris Carson. Now, this one didn't come from him specifically. This one came from Pete Carroll, which background, it was weird. So Pete Carroll went on and praised CJ ProSise for being in great shape. He praised Chris Carson for being in great shape.

He said, J.D. McKissick was ridiculously fit. Then he got to Rashad Penny, and he said, we're just learning about him right now. So I think everybody else seemed to be a great shape. But Chris Carson has actually played pretty well in training camp, I should say, and the preseason. And as we know, we just talked about it in the news. Penny now on the shelf with the broken finger, everything's set up well for Carson to make his move in Seattle. Pete Carrow has a little John Gruden in him where he's,

he'll blow sunshine up your, you know what, and then two weeks later you're benched and forgotten about it. No, you're what? Yeah, Wes, I'm not clear. Where is the sunshine going? Your Tuckus. There we go. Isn't that a weird expression, by the way?

Took us? No, well. Oh, blowing sunshine. But just in general, is that something that's a good thing? I would ever flips up your skirt, Dan. I believe Sun would do that. Eventually. All right.

So there you go. B-S-O-H-L. Hey, one other thing before, I don't want to forget this. Marcus Grant going viral on the internet. A playoff Jarvis Landry's fiery hard knocks premier speech. And Marcus responded to that by tweaking it using elements of that speech and a fiery diatribe against people that auto-draft.

Let's listen to a little bit of that. Oh, wow. I don't know what. The f*** has gone on in this league before. If your cell phone has at least one fucking bar, if you're near a coffee shop with free Wi-Fi, you shouldn't be auto-drafted. Well done.

Check out that whole video on Marcus's Twitter. What's your Twitter in Kelly? Marcus G. This makes me think actually the Fantasy Stronghold was holding Marcus down, and he did take them all out because it's his time. It does start to piece together. You know, pretty securely. It's like, what's a Kevin Spacey movie where he's revealed at the end?

Usual suspect. You're Spacey. I am the Kaiser Soze of the Fantasy Live group. All right, let's move on to our next discussion topic. All right. This segment's called Wake Up! Here are some sleepers. Sleepers.

Okay. Obviously, under the radar fantasy guys. Guys that maybe not told, we're not looking for like Tariq Cohen from last year necessarily, but you can get real deep if you want. But just guys that maybe aren't getting a lot of buzz right now that are hot. Greg, why don't you get us going? Hot to you.

I'm going to start with Chris Godwin and Marquishees Goodwin because I just like to have things. Come on! And they sound similar. The scientists. You stole my Marquise Goodwin. Well, we're just combining them a little bit of them a little bit. But you guys can discuss it now together and you're both right.

Different parts of the draft. Godwin of the buck, so I just think is so talented, he'll find a way to get numbers good end of your draft. And Marquis Goodwin is one of those number one type of receivers that you can get in the... It looks like in the middle rounds where he's a guy not a lot of people think of, and it wouldn't surprise me if he gets 1,300, 300 yards. Love that fire west.

Markis Goodwin was number one on my list. He's going about wide receiver 30 in the late 8th or early 9th rounds. This guy was 60 in the NFL in receptions and yards over the final five weeks of the season. He was a top 10 fantasy receiver with Jimmy Garoppolo under center. And in Shanney, we trust. Kyle Shanahan's his guy. And I saw, like, tangible improvement from him. He was an injury-prone deep threat, and he might still be injury-prone.

But he started moving the chains. Garapo was looking for him on third downs. He was a possession receiver. In addition to the big playability, he's becoming a well-rounded receiver. Throw someone else out, Wes. Jeremy Hill. You have to pay the Evans Silva tax to get Rex Burkhead now because everybody knows he's pretty good. People are reaching way too high for Rex Burkhead in a backfield where it's inconsistent from week to week most years in New England.

But I have a rule that if the Patriots steal a running back from the Bengals, saddle him up and take a chance on it. Is this the Corey Dillon rule? It was the Burkhead rule last year. But if the Patriots see something in your former Bengals running back, take a flyer on. I could see him scoring 15 touchdown. I also think that has more merit now, too, with Sony Michelle not being 100% healthy too. So that means more operatives. We saw a lot of Jeremy Hill last week in the preface.

season game. What do you got, Marcus? I'm looking at C.J. Anderson, and I know everybody's big on Christian McCaffrey, but C.J. Anderson, who had his career year last year, steps in the Jonathan Stewart role, but is a younger, healthier, better version of Jonathan Stewart right now. And so for all the work that McCaffrey is going to get, it's still going to be C.J. Anderson between the tackles and short yardage. And he's going to be the important guy down near the goal line. I mean, yards are great, touches are great. Touchdowns are gold in fantasy. And I think CJ Anderson is going to get a chance to get a lot of them. I think Christian McCaffrey has something to prove whether he's a complete running back.

I thought a lot of things he did last year were a lot of fun. And he was definitely piled up points as a fantasy entity. But maybe if he doesn't show that he could be in between the tackles guy, CJ's going to have a nice role there. It's time now to take a trip over for the first time. And this is, you know, everybody, lock your doors. Haven't heard from Mark in a little bit. Haven't heard from a little bit.

He's over on the fantasy corner. There he is. All right, let's get down to brass tax, my bids. On my players to avoid list. So edgy. Do not be fooled by the off-season hype train circling the Los Angeles Rams. I have three times now reviewed tape from LA's 33 to seven preseason thumping at the hands of the Ravens and unequivocally urged fantasy enthusiasts and parlor game gibronies to stay away from all Rams players in 2018.

On my individuals to nab list, number one, I see undrafted runners. Sherman Beatty as a major handcuff to Marcus Grant's David Johnson in Arizona. Forward-thinking Fantasy Heads would be wise to dial up Beatty or Brady, I believe. I've spelled it both ways in this copy by round three and stay clear of Johnson altogether. Number two, Marcus Grant with us today inform me. He once witnessed a fellow fantasy enthusiast draft a kicker in the seventh round. True? True.

Oh, my God. That's smart thinking. That is smart thinking. I'd zone in on Booter Tom O'Barski out of Concordia St. Paul, yes, a free agent with no known tryouts on the slate, but wise participants will stash him away for their playoff run. And three, and update one year later on free agent ticket sales rep, Rhonda Fontaine. Last we checked, Rhonda was searching for work after being let go by the Packers

in dealing with a hyper-messy breakup from her on-again-off-again boyfriend William Franks. Fontaine relocated to Chicago to live with her sister Patsy Bummels and seek ticket sales work with the bears. Here's the skinny. Rhonda Fontaine never found another job and was kicked out of the Bummel's household for drinking too much and getting Mouthey with Patsy's husband, Gordon Bummels. Gordon Bummels revealed the following to me.

Gordon Bummels revealed to me the following and a text message sent over the weekend. In quotes, Ronda is a family member. We did what we could for her, but she struts around town with a sailor's mouth. and I couldn't put up with the language anymore. Her salty vocabulary was only heightened when she'd hit the red wine. After asking Rhonda to please lay off the alcohol inside the house,

we found out she was stashing no less than 37 bottles of Carlo Rossi brand Merlot behind a stack of 1982 encyclopedias. When I confronted Rhonda, she proceeded to vanish for 12 to 14 hours at a time, and we found out later she was camping out at Bonnie Cue's Tavern and Grill on 38th Street. She was kicked out of that establishment three plus times repeatedly getting in fights with another female imbibor named Ginger Lotz. We love Rhonda, but she brought the household to its knees before relocating back to the Green Bay Area in an attempt to win back William Franks. He phoned our house last week and left a message asking, why on earth did you people green light this flusy minstress moving back to my town, WTF? My advice to you?

Ronda Fontaine is a deep stash prospect that will be gone. by the end of round 10 if you fall asleep at the wheel stay safe mark and that's it we're out of time we will be back on another edition well there you go

is the fantasy corner in Fallujah that was that was a dangerous trip to the fantasy corner is that it for the sleepers no I'll throw out a couple more I like this is not a sleeper at all so I was hesitant to even bring it up

But now that I think of it, just to, like, stick it to the scientist a little bit, Eli Manning. Sleeper. Wow. This is sticking it to the scientist here. I mean, I know. Please, if I was in your league, please stick it to me by drafting. Clean up all. Has he even been on fantasy rosters lately?

That's why he's a sleeper. Jaylon Ramsey would not draft by my manning. It is going to break the hearts of Wes and Greg, who's still grieving. over those two Super Bowls when Eli is a Pro Bowl level talent and not a replacement pick either. Legitimate, 4,400 yards, 30 touchdowns. He can finally pass Andy Dalton

on the all-time Pro Bowl appearances. And that is a sleeper. You beef up in your other positions and then go get your quarterback and make it Elijah. Well done, Dan. Make it Elijah. I'm going to see where he is getting drafted.

And then Wes, you go see Eli in Canton in seven years. I'm not. I can guarantee you that won't have. I'm amazed at some of the quarterbacks, like, where they're going, two quarterbacks going after Eli Manning, after the 13th round. Dak Prescott, I don't know if he's a sleeper, but he should be a sleeper because he's great at football and he runs the ball. A lot of it is just that nobody knows who he's throwing.

I guess, but you don't worry about that. You pick the talented player. Someone who's been great, has been good at fantasy for two years, certainly great two years ago. And then James Winston's, getting taken even later, who had a terrific season when it came for fantasy a year ago. Who was to carry that guy on your roster for a month? We're going to get to that in a second.

And just one more note with the Eli thing, he's going very deep in drafts, according to the fantasy football calculator. He's going the 22nd quarterback coming off the board. Lamar Jackson is going ahead of Eli. And that, to me, is people getting too excited. That's hopeful. I would definitely take Lamar Jackson over. The purpose of fantasy is to give yourself a weekly advantage if things go right. Eli Manning is going to be average

no matter what fantasy-wise. You shall see my friend. Take Lamar Jackson who's a chance to be dynamic and a weekly advantage. You shall see. Come on, Eli. Bring it.

It's so obvious that we wound up in an Eli Manning debate during the show. Next topic, not on my team. I think, Wes, you just said one of the guys probably you don't want on your team,

which is Elijah Manning. Well, he ceased to be relevant in fantasy circles for a few times Super Bowl MVP and future all pro. But not. on my team. These are guys who are going to be picked by teams in every league and maybe high, maybe high picks, maybe first, second, third round. But you don't want them anywhere near your team. Marcus, get us going.

LaShawn McCoy is number one on my list right now. Obviously, there's the off-field stuff, and we don't know how that's going to play out. But more importantly, this Bill's offense is just going to be bad this year. I mean, their quarterback situation is unsettled. Right now, you know, Kelvin Benjamin is less than 100%. So it means Corey Coleman looks like their number one wide receiver. They're counting on, you know, Jeremy Curley and Zay Jones. I don't see any situation where defenses don't just put 12 guys in the box, basically, and say, you know, throw the ball on it, see what's going to happen.

So there's everything about it that just seems to scare me. Throwing the fact that this is, you know, age 30 now for Sean McCoy, which has always been that dreaded death knell for running backs. Everything here just adds up to this being a falloff year for him. You got to be unemotional, though, and everyone is already building that into his draft because he's not getting taken in the top 30 picks, even though he's probably the most consistent running back in the NFL over the last five years. I don't need to hang out with Lashon McCoy.

I'd rather have him on my fantasy team than Derek McKinnon or McCaffrey or Devonty Freeman or Jordan Howard or a million guys taken ahead of him. Derek Henry going in drafts ahead of Lashon-McClai. He actually seems like a good value. You absolutely do not have to be unemotional in fantasy football. This is a hobby meant to be enjoyed. So be emotional. Right.

Drap your guy. But my only point is to try to win. And if people are being emotional that they don't want to take McCoy because he's a creep, I'll take him in the third. I felt like I was pretty logical there. Yeah, no, that was logical. I don't think the bills are going to be quite as bad as people think. It's not like they're going to be worse off, I don't think, a ton offensively than they were a year ago, which was pretty best. Much more fun.

It's much more fun to let a robot like Greg draft these guys and then still beat him, putting yourself at a disadvantage and still win your. I'll ask Dan this. You're sort of overt Jets fan, obviously. You're a fantasy guy. Do you go draft Patriots and then have to root for them in real life? I do, yeah. I don't separate myself from that just because especially you're talking about a team that generates a lot of points every season. So, yeah, I don't have an issue with them.

Well, maybe you're the robot then. Maybe. I don't know. Maybe. It is always tricky those two times a year when they play the Patriots. But otherwise, it's, you know, whatever. You just got to zig west when people are zagging. That's not robot.

Well, when you're ziggin, I'm sagging. And who are you zagging away from, Chris Wesley? I'm calling this my monkey wrench theory for running backs this year. Don't touch them in a third and fourth rounds. You'll just throw a monkey wrench into your draft. The old idiom, you know, from the 19th century, Dan, I'm sure you remember this from the Cooltown, Dave. When you have a machine and a guy goes in there fix it, leaves his monkey wrench in there, jams up the

whole machine. I've lost so many family members. That's what will happen in the third and fourth round. If you're drafting one of these high-risk running backs and you've got stud, receivers take it back to 2003 when you took running backs in the first two rounds every year that's what you should do this year take a first round running back then take a guy like a joe mixing in the second round stay away from running backs in the third and fourth load up omod receivers some names i don't like there Alex collins jay jay lamar miller royce freeman i mean how many years in a row are we going

to draft broncos rookie running backs and expect them to be good don't do any of this Rashad Penny, Ronald Jones, Rex Burkhead, all these guys in that third, fourth, fifth round. Stay away from him. Kenyon Drake, the one exception. I would take a chance on him. You hear that to offense fans? Pipe down. As usual.

Marcus. Derek Henry's another one on my list that I'm worried about. Because I was on the free Derek Henry train a year or so ago, and I thought that after DeMarco Murray left, that this was going to be his big opportunity. and then, lo and behold, Dionne Lewis shows up in Tennessee, and it all fell apart. So at this point, I am off the free Derek Henry train now. And I don't want Matt Ryan anywhere near my team.

You've been through that. But that's more, I believe, it comes from a personal place. So this feels like, you know, like a place of hurt for me. Yeah, he definitely hurt my feelings last year. It's not costing much. This is where you want to kind of buy low in theory. Well, it depends. For instance, my league is a two-quarterback league, which is unconventional.

It is a different setup. So I had to get Matt Ryan early last year and thinking he would be close to that. Now, do I think that Jalen Ramsey is right about Matt Ryan? No, absolutely not. But am I going to take him among the top quarterbacks this season? I'm probably going to be the wait and see guy and let somebody else see if he ever recaptures the Kyle Shanahan greatness of 2016. Well, you have Eli Manning, so no worries. He's a deep sleeper.

He's a sleeper. I'll get him later. But I want to get one guy early in my draft, two quarterback draft, and then I would not make one of those early QBs, Deshawn Watson. He's on my do not want list because quarterbacks are so easy to find according to the average draft position. And Deshawn Watson is your number two quarterback in fantasy right now? Coming off a torn ACL, he's played, what, five starts in his entire career.

It's just like this, I'm sure he's going to have a great career and he might have a great year, but this just isn't the year where the value makes sense. He's being supremely overdrafted. I mean, people are talking about him as the number two fantasy. quarterback behind Aaron Rogers and what he did last year was amazing but he also played so far above his head statistically that it's just impossible to think he can continue that sort of success this year. Yeah, I totally agree with you guys and statistically specifically there's no way he's going to have the same luck on deep ball efficiency and interception luck, which he threw a lot of interceptable

passes that were dropped last year and he's a running quarterback coming off an ACL injury. I'm like you. I'm not saying he's not going to have a great career. If you really like this guy, go get him. I just think it's terrible value. Fantasy people get too into like trying to evaluate who's like really figure out who's good, who's not. It's like who knows. Just look at it like stocks, gambling, whatever.

You buy high, you buy low, you sell high. He's getting it. It's just talking about it. I'm just saying like Watson is not going to be. It doesn't make any sense that he's high coming off of that. So you stay away. I would say- He's getting drafted ahead of Cam Newton by five rounds. Right. Cam Newton was another guy on my list of like undrafted, like undervalued list.

The other couple guys that I would stay away from the Gordons, Melvin and Josh. It's wild that people are still drafting Josh Gordon in 2018. I would draft him. This high in the fifth round. Not that high. Again, some like really great wide receivers that you can basically just plug in and totally expect them to do it. I would rather have Chris Hogan than I would have Josh Gordon. The odds on Josh Gordon not playing this season are a lot higher than him having a thousand yards.

What if he comes back next week? Does that change? It doesn't because I don't really trust it to happen. I got to disagree with you there. Chris Hogan's a number three receiver. I don't even draft number three receivers. I would rather have like Cooper Cup, Kelvin Benjamin. I like Cooper Cup.

Like any of those. Wide outs being taken after Josh Gordon right now. Alshon Jeffrey, Alan Robinson, Jarvis Landry, Chris Hogan, Marvin Jones, Golden Tate, Sammy Watkins, Jordan Nelson. A lot of options, Julian Edelman, that are probably safer bets at this stage. Like, I'll always take a risk on off-field stuff, but he's getting drafted as if the last four years didn't happen. And I think... Chris Hogan's getting drafted as if he's not Chris Hogan. It's fair to worry about him as a human.

No one's speaking about what the heck is going on right now. And I think until he proves otherwise, like, yeah, I'll believe he's an NFL player when he does it. Chris Hogan is interesting, Wes, because before Tom Brady, according to Seth Wickershens, piece laid out Chris Ogan and Runed his season. He was putting up numbers. He was producing on that offense. And now Edelman has the four-game suspension coming off the ACL. I wouldn't be stunned if he was a thousand-rower.

As soon as Edelman comes back, my thing is I came up this theory about 15 or 20 years ago, but I don't draft wide-receiver 3. You pick him up of the waiver wire. You draft a bunch of wide-receiver 2s. To me, Hogan's a wide receiver 3. As soon as Edelman comes back, Edelman's the number 1. Edelman is a guy who would stay so far away from everyone saying he doesn't look like himself in training camp. He's missing four games. I thought in the last few days that narrative

had changed around. Either way, at his age and just with his skill set, like, I'll let someone else take his post-ACL season. I will say Chris Hogan in the short term has some value, but again, he's a guy you can kind of wait on because after those four games are up, you know, everything changes in that offense. I also would stay away from those tight ends getting taken early that like aren't Gronk. Jimmy Graham and Greg Olson. Take Gronk in the first round if you want. He seems undervalued. It's Gronk and Kelsey early. Right. And that. And after that, there's so many good players like your boy, David and Joku at the end. I don't need a fifth round.

Delaney Walker still gets no respect whatsoever. George Kittles an interesting guy. He is an interesting one. I would say that David and Joku, like, you know, meditation and jugs machines, man. That's the way of the future. It seems to be working. I try. I made the mistake before I'm getting sucked into Hard Knocks, uh, hype bunnies.

So in Joko, as I was watching that episode on Tuesday night, I was like, oh, yeah. 1,200 yards, 17 touchdowns. So it's like, calm down. Everyone looks amazing on hard. Mark Knox. Let's send it back to the fantasy corner. Mark, are you okay? Are you safe? These streets are increasingly fraught with ascension and chaos, Dan. I'm currently huddled under the doorway of New Flavors Sichuan Moon Dragon Bistro. Let's talk some fantasy. Last year, this corner introduced the horizon expanding concept of max flex triggers. My method for unearthing low-priced

moderate ceiling players who might possibly make a late season impact of 20 to 30 other athletes on the roster were to be taken out by an assassin during the course of the season. This time around, I'm more concerned with the personal development of Newsroom Editor David Ely, my romper wearing rosé drinking supervisor who bides his time outside of work hosting an all-male book club entitled Men of a Certain Page. Let's talk about growing your brand, bro. That is real. It's high time for you to get out of your. comfort zone and actively network with area newsmen and newswomen, expand your base

David Ely. Step one, how about be productive? Get online and organize an LA-based meetup for news professionals. Market yourself as the spearheading leader of this event. Kickoff said meetup by unfurling the keynote address on a talk entitled as follows, the beat goes on, colon, balancing the need for page views with a newsman's internal drive to push the envelope via stories of an investigative nature. Subtitle, colon, how the need for clicks should never yank a proper journal off the course of truth-telling thinkpieces that cast delight on societal wrongs and the ever-present ills of marketplace clown cars running ragged in today's global market milieu. David Ely, after delivering the keynote address, you will engage in valuable FaceTime

with your other professionals in the field, learning from the experiences while also helping them to grow as reporters and editors by sharing your own grid. war stories from the edit desk. This will allow you to beef up your Rolodex while also meeting a fetching young female reporter named Regina Beth Taxley. A reporter for the Los Angeles, Orange County

Business and Accounting Insider. Your first date with Regina Beth Taxley will be a casual walk along the Pacific Ocean with your dog Cam and Regina Beth Taxley's cat Minkset, which she keeps on a leash. You will gain perspective from Regina Beth Taxley's four years of experience covering Big Five accounting houses.

is in Southern California. She will be way into your dangerously v-necked Cam Newton T-shirt, backwards baseball hat, and somewhat forced Silver Lake hipster vibe. The relationship will fast track from there. You and Regina Beth will go on a series of dates, which she will mostly pay for because modern society is tumbling towards total implosion.

There will, I'm almost done. There will be a handful of encounters that feature both of you awkwardly sitting on her couch watching your favorite show, Bachelor in Paradise, while mixing in floating episodes of Bachelor Winter Games and the proposal, a hyper-unnecessary mind-reducing offering from ABC. Regina Beth will live with a haunting sense

that she could explore other options, but you'll loom as a comfortable presence that ultimately lowers her in. She'll be into your claims that the Kennedy assassination has no historical relevance in 2018 and the fact you bought a bookshelf and filled it with books you openly tell us

you'll never read simply to look chic at in-house dinner gatherings where you and your guy pals plays chutes and ladders before rolling down summer hillsides and your skinny jeans all because you put together

this career-expanding journal meet-up in downtown L.A. I'm out. That was so. Wait, how is that supposed to help me with my fantasy draft? Pull from it what you must. That was a trenchant critique

of dating life in Los Angeles. The highs, the lows, you'll laugh, you'll cry. Yeah. A slump buster. A little bit of everything. Finally. Before we go, as we do every year, we impart some draft day advice.

And yes, this is where we speak from the heart. And we have so many listeners who just want to enter their drafts with some confidence. So this is what we're trying to do. Give you a leg up on the competition. Wes, why don't you get us going with some draft day wisdom? You will hear the inverse of this philosophy from Greg Rosenthal later. but unless you're playing in some high-stakes Las Vegas Fantasy League where your salary is on the line,

there are no experts in fantasy football. There is a lot of group think. Trust your gut. Draft a team you want. If you like a guy, if he plays for a team, if you've got a great feeling about a guy, if you want to watch him on Monday night football or whatever, draft him.

Don't listen to the expert because there's no such thing as an expert. Draft the guys you like Don't draft the creeps Don't draft the guys you don't want to root for Don't draft the guys that will lessen your fun For your hobby Right That is 100%

Like just have a team you want to enjoy rules for It's a hobby Right Why do we why are we saying So Greg you would rather pick players That you don't enjoy watching He's telling me the players I don't want I want the players that perform all

That's what I enjoy So you can look past Some of the unsavory aspects of certain talents Right because it's all nonsense It's literally all fantasy. Yes. Literally, okay? But I agree.

Fantasy tends to have a good connotation. These are the people, these are the scenarios that you daydream about. And I'm pretty sure each one of us has given that piece of advice in this, in this forum at some point. Yeah, it's fine to repeat advice because it's the same, it's just as helpful just to be reminded of certain things. Marcus, you hand out some advice. I do. You know, I would say, I mean, aside from what West said, which is my number one that I'd people but in most leagues there are what we call the onesies position quarterback tight-in kicker

defense generally in most of these you only start one of those players so you really only need to draft one of those players because you're gonna you know if you have an injury if you have a bi-week you can find somebody off the waiver wire you can stream the position if you need to so it doesn't make sense to carry two and three quarterbacks or a couple of tight-ins just because on a week-to-week basis you only play one of them anyway so you know use that roster spot that roster space for other wide receivers and running backs where you will have to play multiples of them during the week. Like that.

I see you're making notes there. Yes. Greg, please feel free to attack me personally. No, I literally, I think that was, I'm totally, I completely agree with you that you should just do it to have fun. And that's kind of what my advice is, is that you don't have to play fantasy football. I'm just being real where I am in life. I don't even play fantasy football anymore.

And it's kind of great. Like, I'm not saying, I'm not making judgments. I loved fantasy football for like a long time. But I've gotten older and you change sometimes and you get different priorities. And just because everyone else is playing fantasy football, like if it's starting to feel even like a little bit like a drag, don't do it. Free up your Sunday. Like, do whatever you want. You might come back to it in a few years.

Right. I have. Some years I've done it. Some years I haven't. Like, and it's fine when I do it. But I would say like if you're, if you're one of those who it kind of starting to feel like, homework like give it up you'll probably enjoy that that's fair i kind of do feel like saying uh you don't i don't have a fantasy football team is the new i don't have a television

well that's only because a bunch of people around you got out and you're still in i've never i've never talked about in the show i haven't had a team in people that don't have a fantasy team love to tell you they don't have a fantasy but also remember the inverse that is also true everybody who has a fantasy team loves to tell you about who's on their fantasy well and i in which is enough of that as well no one cares about your fantasy team that's the one thing everyone cares about their fantasy team, but no one cares about your fantasy team. Right. My draft day advice is

one's practical because I got burned last year and I only do one league and the league I got burned in. Christian McCaffrey and Joe Mixing, I kind of got cute. I got sucked into things that were in the summer mill about who was going to be great and I took two guys

and I believe there was another player in the mix there. And if you do not get in with a big time running back, I feel like right now these top running backs are winning leagues more than ever with their ability to stack up points, PPR leagues. So don't get cute at running back. It ties into kind of what West was saying too with the monkey wrench. If you have a great running back at the top of the in the first round or the second round, grab them. You will regret it if you try to get somebody on the bargain in the

third and fourth round and then you'll be chasing that position all season. And then the other one, which is an annual reminder, don't be the guy that gets drunk at your fantasy draft. Get drunk after the fantasy fan if you're having a get together have a couple beers get loose you're supposed to be having fun but once you get too drunk you can make decisions that will haunt you

for three or four months and that's not worried a glass of Tito's or an extra IPA just let the other guys get drunk even if you want to do the old water trick or like oh let's let's get everyone else him everybody let's have some makers mark before we get going

you pour yourself a little diacola And then you're flying. These guys are drafting Heinz Ward in round six. This is the type of stuff that Marcus did to eliminate all competition in this building. You have to be playing chess. Not checking us. All right. Watch the ATN live video show Thursdays streaming at noon eastern NFL.com slash ATN live.

Marcus Grant, you are an excellent, excellent fantasy expert. I call you an expert. I appreciate that. Now, I'm just a dude who I tell people, not only my job is playing fantasy football allowed, it's sort of encouraged. So I just have more time to sit and stare at this stuff than the average person. So that's it. Yeah, so follow Marcus Grant on Twitter and the Fantasy Live podcast, which again, I will be joining you on. Mark, do we have a final trip to the Fantasy Corner?

I don't know. I feel like I've kind of burned you guys out a little bit. How long is this one? This one is one single page. So it's half as long. West, should we throw it to the fantasy corner? Yes, because I like this topic. I mean, this is where I get the foundation for my player ranking, so please.

Yes, yes, yes. One last time to the fantasy corner with Mark Sess. This is why I quit fantasy football a brief essay. And I hopefully, hopefully, briefed than the previous two. The last time I played fantasy football was 2013, but not as myself. My wife Simone was in a league with a flock of clients from her work. She was the only female in the league. I caught wind that these bro types would occasionally make fun.

of her to her face. Oh, Simone, you stink at this. That's exactly right. Largely because her 2012 team, the previous year, was a crash and burn unit the result of being at home with a two-year-old and a newborn baby. Fair to say she wasn't concerned with mining the waiver wire for some two-bit flex option with deep league upside

with two tots causing utter mayhem on the home front. The following season in 2013, these guys invited her back. The commissioner would put out this weekly newsletter, often taking jabs at Simone in print from mildly sucking at running her team. The thing is, I think she's pretty good at fantasy football when she did not, you know, had the job of nursing two small humans. In response, I secretly took over her franchise in 2013.

I picked up Julius Thomas, a Chris Wesleyan favorite, and a guy we suspected would fly with Peyton Manning at the helm in Denver. When I grabbed Thomas early, the draft chat room went nuts, killing, end quote, Simone, for taking a nobody. I was stunned at how they treated her. I decided to attack with a bow and arrow made of pure lava, filling her roster with a laundry list of breakout candidates. Long story short, Simone's team scored more points than any other squad

in the 16 club league and ran away with the championship. Simone never said a word to anyone all season and quietly retired after taking home the championship trophy. I've never touched fantasy since. Seacrest out, bitch. That was... That's fantastic. I love attack with a bow and arrow made of pure lava,

but I really love maybe the first humble brag essay of her. It's a little humble braggy. Now, stay safe, Mark. You got to get indoors. It wasn't the first, because I think that was a trip to the fantasy corner a couple years ago, that story. But I'm not sure. Hey, you got to play the hits. You know, when it comes to anything fantasy-related,

my general catalog of data is very small. I love the corner. All right. We'll be back on Friday. The return of Connie Fox, the tiny box. Colleen Wolfe will rejoin us after a long break from the show. We'll get into it. The history is very rich here.

Yeah, so we're excited to have her back. Hey, one plug. Our friend, the loose cannon, M of VP, and I guess Connie Fox, but not really. Let's be honest, it's more Erica just being thirsty to have Connie involved. They do the broadcast, of course, the VP, and, video shows that we love the video shorts but also now the broadcast podcast which has been launched on apple podcasts and wherever you get your pods so subscribe to that if you want to hear from the ladies and who wouldn't stand hans of signing off for quiet storm the mailman

the expert the old boss and the bitcoin princess behind the glass till Friday This is an eye heart podcast.